Our Team

Cristina Chua is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who earned her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Hunter College in New York. Cristina originally developed her passion for social work as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica where she partnered with Child Protective Services of Costa Rica to create programs for children and youth.  Upon moving to New York, Cristina worked for ten years as a Bilingual Social Worker for Good Shepherd Services providing counseling, case management and crisis intervention support to predominantly immigrant families in Brooklyn, New York.  In this role, Cristina had the privilege to be trained as a Parenting Journey and Parenting in America facilitator and ran these groups multiple times with families in both English and Spanish.  Most recently, Cristina worked as a trauma therapist, supporting children, adolescents and young adults impacted by abuse, neglect or traumatic grief. Currently, Cristina is a trainer for the Parenting Journey, works with individuals in private practice and serves as a Bilingual Social Worker for Atlas: DIY, an organization that empowers immigrant youth.  In her free time, Cristina loves to dance, meditate, and run workshops.

Shawn G. Howard, LMSW is an Assistant Program Director for Staten Island Family Services (a division of the Jewish Board of Family & Children’s Services, Inc.). He received his B.S. from Metropolitan College of New York, formerly Audrey Cohen College and his MSW from New York University-Silver School of Social Work. In 2003 Mr. Howard began his career with JBFCS as a caseworker and eventually worked his way up to his current administrative role with the program. Mr. Howard has been influential in developing and facilitating multiple youth groups that address various issues faced by today’s adolescents.  In addition, Mr. Howard has successfully incorporated the Parenting Journey parenting class to JBFCS which continues to be facilitated in several locations across the five boroughs. Mr. Howard has worked in the human services field for approximately 12 years assisting families directly and through advocacy with systems that affect their lives. He currently resides on Staten Island with his wife and children. He can be contacted at showard@jbfcs.org.

Raven Maldonado-Brown is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with extensive experience counseling adults, children, and families in community-based agencies as well as in private practice. Her work has focused on guiding individuals and families in developing healthy communication and interaction as well as addressing specific issues such as trauma, parent-child conflict, marital/partner conflict, anxiety, depression, and life stage adjustment. Raven incorporates the principles of mindfulness (Buddhist-based psychotherapy techniques) and meditation into her work to help clients move toward self-acceptance and release self-judgment in order to improve mentally, emotionally, and physically. In her current role as a trainer for Parenting Journey, Raven engages professionals in the social service, educational, and mental health fields in a week-long, experiential training in the Parenting Journey curriculum, an empowering and transformative group for parents. She is also a full-time outpatient clinic trainer for Astor Services for Children and Families where she provides extensive training to clinical staff in various treatment models as well as best practices in the mental health treatment field.